1st Huntington Station Revitalization Community Meeting Held

HUNTINGTON STATION, NY — The first community engagement meeting of the Huntington Station Downtown Revitalization Initiative was held Wednesday, the Town of Huntington announced.

The public event allowed the community to express concerns, needs and aspirations for the revitalization of Huntington Station. The community was awarded $10 million from the New York State Department of State for transformative capital projects.

The initiative is a New York state economic development program with the hope of transforming neighborhoods into vibrant centers that offer a high quality of life and are magnets for redevelopment, business, job creation, and economic and housing diversity.

The town will look to develop Huntington Station into a more walkable downtown, Supervisor Ed Smyth said.

"It probably means wider sidewalks, better lighting, more traffic-calming devices on Route 110 and Pulaski Road," Smyth told Patch. "The $10 million, in terms of doing a build-out like this, $10 million evaporates very quickly. Ultimately, what we want to see happen with the $10 million of DRI money in combination with the new sewer line that's going in, we're hoping that those two factors attract private capital investment into the area."

The town plans to break ground on the sewer line project in Huntington Station around spring 2024, Smyth said.

Once the $10 million in funding is used, Smyth said the town's idea is that private investors will step up and invest in Huntington Station with various projects.

Smyth and some people on the Huntington Station Downtown Revitalization Initiative Committee had already seen the presentation from the state, but the meeting marked the first time the general populace was looped in.

"I think it was important to have the public at the table, seeing it and hearing it, and learning what the process is on the spending of the DRI grant," Smyth said.

The next community meeting is scheduled for Sept. 14.